I Know Why the Caged Core Sings
by numbuh0051
Summary: While floating in space, Wheatley comes to terms with some of the most distressing events in his life.
1. Anniversary

It had been a year since he had been forcibly removed from her body and shot into space and, surprisingly, Wheatley had not lost his mind. This was a considerable feat taking into account that his only companion was the Space Core. Aptly named, Wheatley had often thought to himself as he listened to the endless rambles about his joy of being in the outer limits.

In the beginning, though, it hadn't been quite as easy for he was in sore straits for someone to converse with. He had tried swapping interesting anecdotes with Space Core but it usually began and ended with both trying to talk over the other, Wheatley hopelessly annoyed and his companion hopelessly ignorant.

After these thwarted conversational attempts, the little core began to get the habit of talking less and thinking more. At first, he would usually muse about that unnamed test subject who had hooked him up to Glados's body. This would usually lead to his deep regrets of the events that unfolded afterward and culminated in him wallowing in self-pity for a few days.

Finally realizing that thinking of _those_ particular events did him no good, Wheatley looked around for other objects to occupy his mind and found them in great supply around him. The great vastness of space surrounded him but it was filled with beautiful stars that looked as though little cores had been scattered around the universe and were pleasantly winking at him. The earth itself was just as gorgeous in its colorful majesty and he took pleasure in watching the clouds swirl around it. As for the moon, after he had thoroughly observed it throughout its many phases, he began to understand why so many humans were obviously enamored with it and felt great remorse for mocking that woman for gazing at it.

Many months of peaceful observation had finally made him calm enough to think about his past and now he rather enjoyed musing about all the memories he possessed and he did so on a regular basis, always ending with the thought that if he were to ever see the woman again, he would apologize to her profusely.

Today, he looked at his only friend expectantly and said, "Guess what mate? We've been in space a whole year!"

"Yay! We're in space!" Space Core replied with the same exuberance he always had.

"And you know what? We're both still alive! And I haven't gone mad! Isn't that great?"

"Spaaaaaaaaaaaaaace!"

"Exactly! You know what I think we should do? We should celebrate a little bit! Of course, I don't know how but…"

"Sing in space!"

"You know what? That's a great idea."

With that, Space Core began to sing in a voice that would suit even the greatest operatic bass. Wheatley just stared at the core as he flawlessly continued his Italian piece.

"Full of surprises aren't you mate?" he finally murmured.

Still half-listening to the song, Wheatley closed his eyes and thought. Not about that woman, not about Glados, but way back. When he was first created…


	2. Creation

It was dark. All darkness. Then a voice…

"Just a minute, love, got to get your little eye open before you can see."

He didn't think he needed to see. The voice was just fine; it was sweet and lilting and lovely.

A zapping sound and then darkness turned to blurry images.

"Let there be light," the voice continued as he realized it was the blob that was talking to him "Now then, just a few more minor adjustments!"

The blob was now starting to get clearer.

"There you are! Welcome to the world."

The blob was a human. A female human. A woman. A woman who was pushing her face right in his eye.

"Well, how do you feel then? A little strange or maybe you're confused?"

Wheatley stared at her and slowly replied, "Well, that's pretty close, don't you think?"

The woman threw her head back and laughed.

"Well, aren't you a funny little guy? I'm sorry, I have absolutely no respect for personal space so don't mind me. You sound an awful lot like me. If I were a man that is. Same accent, same inflections, it's bloody hilarious! I guess my coworkers decided to play a joke on me," she exclaimed as she brushed back her curly hair "Well, back to business. My name is Nola. Do you know what your name is?"

"Wheatley."


	3. The Big Day

Wheatley soon became accustomed to having a flurry of scientists swarming in, asking him questions, taking notes, sometimes going to their little computers and running a few tests on him, and swarming out. He would usually try to talk to them but it seemed to him that they didn't really listen, they just continued with their tests and left.

The only one who would listen to him and actually talk back was Nola. He wished they would send her in more often, she was kinder and sweeter and always laughed, a sound which he grew to love. He supposed the other scientists didn't appreciate it as much because he heard them complain that it was too loud. He didn't know why they didn't enjoy hearing it, it was a hearty, musical sort of laugh but, then again, she seemed to be the only one who ever smiled.

"_Miss Lynde, please report to chamber 259," _a loudspeaker exclaimed above him.

Wheatley was happy. That meant Nola was coming to visit him today.

A few minutes later, her small form appeared at the glass wall surrounding him and Wheatley felt a surge of pleasure as he observed her typing in the code needed to enter.

He had never forgotten what she looked like. Nola had long curly hair that was somewhat between orange and yellow and always pulled back in a clip. Her pretty little eyes were an interesting light green and they always twinkled at you. She had some freckles on her nose and a few on her cheeks but for the most part, her skin was a mildly dark golden tint. She always wore glasses, she always leaned forward on her chair, and she always threw her head back when she laughed.

Today, her pert mouth was curved in a smile as she exclaimed excitedly, "Guess what? You're going on a test run, Wheatley! Isn't that great?"

Wheatley was confused.

"A test run for what?"

"We're going to plug you into GlaDOS today. Remember? I told you about it!"

"Will it hurt?" Wheatley asked as a slight pang of fear made itself manifest.

"Of course not, love! We're just going to see if you can handle controlling her for a few minutes. This is what everyone's been preparing you for and now, this is your day!"

Wheatley felt slightly frightened at the prospect of being plugged into GlaDOS. After all, wasn't she a bit of a psychopath?

Nola gazed at him for a moment and added, "Wheatley, you were designed with the intention of making sure that she doesn't hurt anyone. People's lives are depending on you. Please, I'll be right there with you."

Wheatley looked back at her and realizing that he would do anything to make her happy, replied in a chipper way, "Well then, let the games begin!"


	4. Emotional Tide

After seeking the assistance of several coworkers, Nola was now cheerfully pushing Wheatley in a cart down the endless hallways of Aperture Laboratory.

"Nola? Quick question. Will it hurt?" he asked hesitantly.

"No, of course not, Wheatley. It won't hurt at all!" she replied "Are you really that nervous about it, love?"

"What, me? Nervous? Noooooooo," he awkwardly guffawed as he felt his wires cringe within him.

"That's good."

They continued in silence for a few moments until Wheatley heard a second pair of footsteps join them.

"Hey, Nola, if you don't mind I think I might join you," an obviously masculine voice said.

"Oh really, John, it's not necessary. He'll do just fine," Nola replied.

Wheatley realized that his cart had been suddenly stopped. He strained to see what was going on behind him but the most he could view was the ceiling. He had to be satisfy himself with hearing the maddening conversation taking place behind him.

"Nola, come on. I'm not just talking about Wheatley, I'd like to be with _you_," John emphasized.

"Well, I really don't need help with this. Besides, he's used to me and I can talk him through it."

"You're missing the point completely. Maybe you won't let me go in the chamber with you but I would like to take you out sometime."

There was silence and then Nola answered, in a soft tone Wheatley had never heard before, "I know. And I would love it. I just think it would be bloody awkward."

"What makes it awkward? We work together but that doesn't mean I don't see you as a woman. A very beautiful, interesting, kind woman who I happen to be very attracted to." Another pause. "And I think she might be attracted to me too."

Wheatley couldn't hear what Nola said back because an intern had taken it upon himself to carelessly shove the cart out of his way. The little core took a few seconds to right himself again after the dizzying spin but when he did he was facing Nola and John. That is, Nola who had her arms wrapped around the tall man's neck and John whose hands were resting on her arms. They remained like this for a few seconds before she tipped her head up just enough so that her lips met his.

Wheatley felt a strange pang as he watched them….do whatever it was they were doing. Seeing them interact in this odd way caused him to feel highly uncomfortable and perhaps even some pain. But why? What did that gesture of touching lips mean? And did she speak like that to him? What made this…this "John" so special anyway?

After a little while, the two separated and, with their faces reddening, promised to have dinner together. Nola went back to the cart and continued pushing Wheatley down the hall, not noticing that her passenger was remaining steadfastly silent.

"Oh great, what do you want? I've never seen you here before. If you're trying to steal me, I'd strongly advise against it. With your build I think even my eye could smash you," a bored feminine voice announced as Wheatley was wheeled into a large chamber.

"I work here, GlaDOS and I'm here to put something special on you," Nola replied patiently.

"Oh, goody. Tell me, is it a new neural-toxin dispenser? I hear they're all the rage. If you got me one I promise I'll demonstrate it to you."

"Thank you for your generosity but it's not neural-toxin. Come along, Wheatley," she added as she pushed the cart close to GlaDOS's frighteningly huge body and began to prepare to plug the core in.

"Will you go out to dinner with me?" Wheatley asked impulsively.

"What?" Nola asked completely taken aback by the strange request.

"Dinner? Will you go out to dinner with me?" he repeated hopefully.

She turned around suddenly and stared at him before quickly stammering, "Wheat…Wheatley, you don't eat."

Wheatley nervously fidgeted his handles as he replied, "Well, yes I figured that would be a bit hard but…but _you_ could eat and I could watch. Or better yet, you could _pretend_ I'm eating and put a plate of stuff in front of me and you could actually eat your stuff so it's almost the same thing."

"What?" Nola repeated incredulously "Wheatley, I don't quite understand what you're trying to…"

"DINNER!" Wheatley cried "Just like what you're going to do with that man in the hall. The one who had his arms all around you and bit your lips!"

"Love, he wasn't biting me, he was _kissing_ me. Biting is mean. Kissing is, well…"

Nola's face was quickly turning scarlet as she rubbed her head in confusion and tried to explain. She didn't get the chance.

"Kissing is that nasty thing that humans do to each other to show affection, Moron!" GlaDOS snapped "My god, you're plugging that little IDIOT into _my _mainframe? I don't think so."

"Listen here, Lady!" Nola growled as she whipped around to face her "First of all, he is _not_ a moron. He just has a lot of creative thoughts. Second of all, you're not the boss here. It's me and he is going to be plugged into you whether you want him or not!"

"Why don't you ever kiss me?" Wheatley cried emphatically "Don't you have affection for me too? Or is it only for that man?"

Nola now whipped around to face _him_ and exclaimed, "Wheatley, his name is John not "That Man"!"

"It doesn't matter. You never kissed me and I'm the one who had to do all those tests. I'm the one who always tried to make you happy. But you never talked to me like that and you never kissed me. I thought you liked me," he replied his voice suspiciously sounding like it was filled with tears.

Nola stared at him for a long time. Finally, she got up and ran out of the room.

"Nola, wait! I didn't mean…" he called after her.

"Way to go, Moron," GlaDOS said "You're a machine. You can't love her and she can't love you. To her, you're just a lump of metal that just happens to talk."

"I'M NOT A MORON!" Wheatley screamed at her.


	5. Goodbye, My Love

Whether or not he had frightened her into silence, Wheatley was glad for the lack of talking. He was very confused over how he felt but the one thing he felt most was sorrow for making Nola upset at him. The emotion increased when different scientists came in to attach him to the mainframe.

"I wonder what she's doing," Wheatley wondered aloud "I hope she's not too angry at me. What if she decides to never come back? What if she never eats dinner again because of me? Oh god, what if she goes on a robot killing spree and gets put away?"

"SHUT UP ALREADY!," was his companion's reply.

Still, the weeks were starting to turn into months and Nola still hadn't returned.

"Do you think she would be proud that I'm still plugged in?" he questioned one day.

"No, but she's probably reeeeally happy that you're irritating the heck out of me," GlaDOS growled.

A year and a half later, Wheatley was, as usual, mumbling to himself when he heard a small voice whispering from a dark corner, "Wheatley, love, is that you?"

"Nola!" Wheatley exclaimed "I thought you were dead. Well, first I thought you hated me and then I thought you went crazy and THEN I thought you were dead."

He was silenced as she came out from the shadows.

"Oh, Nola," he murmured as he took in her decidedly changed appearance.

She had lost a good deal of weight in the time she had been gone and her eyes no longer twinkled. Instead, they carried dark circles and deep lines underneath them. She looked tired and disheveled but at least she came back to see him.

"I'm truly, honestly sorry I said that to you," Wheatley began "I didn't mean to get mad. I…"

Nola put her arms around him and he see tears rolling off his head.

"Love, I'm so sorry," she sniffed "I didn't mean to leave you for so long. It's just I told my boss about my concerns about you and how it was unethical to leave you plugged into that monster but instead of listening he just fired me and barred me from the place. I thought that was strange so I did research and found out that their main computer was responsible for many deaths before. I…I told John and he threatened to expose the company and I don't know what they did to him. I tried to come back and get you out but they caught me every time."

Wheatley didn't fully understand what she was saying but he didn't really care. He was feeling a pleasant surge of warmth because her arms were encircled around him and he was content that she wasn't angry or dead.

"Wheatley," she said firmly as she looked directly into his eye "I'm leaving and you're coming with me. Now hold still while I try to…"

She was interrupted by a loud blaring sound and looked up in alarm.

"What's going on?"

It didn't take long for her to get her answer as screams began to echo from every direction. GlaDOS hadn't noticed her entering and talking because she was currently busy gassing the entire laboratory with neural-toxin. Neural-toxin that was starting to spread throughout the her chamber as well.

"Nola! You have to get out now!" Wheatley cried in a panic.

Nola ran around in a panic but GlaDOS had sealed off the chamber to prevent any workers from trying to turn the poisonous fumes off manually.

"Oh, it's you," GlaDOS said as she looked down and finally noticed the stray human running around in the chamber "I remember you. You're the one who plugged that little Idiot into my mainframe. Well, a promise is a promise. Here's your demonstration."

With that the room was pumped with such a thick cloud of toxin, Nola fell to her knees and coughed so violently her chest was heaving.

"NO! NOLA! GLADOS STOP!" Wheatley screamed to no avail.

"Sorry, I can't purge the room. Some of her pesky friends might find their way in here," she replied nonchalantly.

"STOP THIS BLOODY THING BEFORE I…"

He felt a warm hand on his exterior and turned to see Nola pitifully supporting herself with his handles.

"Tell me, Wheatley, have you been doing a good job here?" she said as she weakly smiled.

Have to keep her calm, Wheatley thought as he replied, "Well, I talk a lot. Is that good?"

"Oh, that's tremendous. You're supposed to be doing that. Go on, are people nice to you? "

"Yes, but they're annoyed at me because they say I jabber too much. They say I don't shut up enough to listen."

Nola threw her head back and laughed as she slowly released her grip and sank slowly to the floor.

"Well, you and I both. They always said that to me too. Love?"

"Yes?"

"Make me a promise."

"Anything, just say it," Wheatley could hear his voice cracking. As though he could cry.

"Don't stop trying to escape ever. And don't let people take advantage of you or call you a moron or anything. Tell 'em off, show 'em who's boss if they do. And Wheatley?"

"Yes?"

Nola had already lost the movement in her legs so she used all the strength she had in her arms to pull herself up by grabbing Wheatley's handles. Then she carefully bowed her head and Wheatley could feel her soft lips pressing against the top of him and a warm spark went off somewhere deep inside his circuitry.

She remained like this for a minute before quickly murmuring, "I love you" and falling the floor. Looking at him and smiling slightly, her eyes twinkled at him one last time before glazing over. And there she died, still smiling, next to the core who had loved her dearly.


	6. The Visitor

For months after Nola's death, Wheatley found himself wishing he could cry like humans. It might've done something to relieve that awful pain reverberating throughout his small body, a pain that really had no source. He supposed he should've been angry at GlaDOS as well but his fear of her just hadn't receded enough to do that properly. Although she had ejected him from her mainframe and forced him to roam the lab using the management rail, he was still terribly frightened of her.

Of course, GlaDOS made it relatively easy to fear her for in the coming years, she proceeded to terrorize any new staff that tried to control her, take workers and their families hostage, and violently dismantle any robots that made her angry. Naturally, he hadn't expected anyone to try her on.

"What the heck is going on?" GlaDOS snapped, sounding a good deal more perturbed then her usual state "Twenty-seven test subjects have come up missing in the last week and none have died during testing. Why are they suddenly disappearing from their rooms?"

Wheatley, busily eavesdropping on her, thought to himself, And thirty last week. And God knows how many the weeks before. I wonder what happened to them?

"I need to put turrets next to all the chambers. I'd just like to SEE them try to disappear again.

This sounded a lot more interesting then aimlessly rolling along on his rail. Wheatley decided that he would pay a visit to the smelly humans and see what was happening to make them disappear.

"This should be bloody interesting," he thought as he continued to listen to GlaDOS's ranting and raving.

True to her word, there was a small army of turrets nestled around every chamber that night. Wheatley couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor person that managed to tick them off. Still, he was dying to know how the test subjects were making their escapes and lodged himself into a space that would give him a view of the whole situation.

Five hours later, the turrets seemed to no longer take their jobs seriously and were singing a little tune that Wheatley supposed they made up themselves. The humans had not stirred since being sent to their individual rooms and he supposed that if they were escaping, they probably weren't going to do it tonight. He hesitantly rolled out of his space and had continued on his rail for some time when he heard the sound of bullets going off.

"Oh my god! That's got to be them! I can't believe it! They're trying to escape!" he cried as he sped back to the chambers.

When he got back, he was stunned to see a dark shadow moving at a fantastic rate and throwing something at the turrets. One of the objects hit a turret and caused it to start shooting erratically before exploding. Wheatley began to feel very nervous as hordes of the little metal mercenaries were taken out by this unseen warrior. Who had just landed right in front of him.

The shadow was a young woman with dark eyes, short dark hair and a fearsome expression which was making him more and more afraid. They stared at each other for what seemed like hours until she began to move towards him.

"Uh, please, don't kill me," Wheatley begged "I really don't want to die. I.."

The woman, however, had walked right past him and began bursting the chamber doors open and releasing the people. Soon, a small cluster of test subjects were assembled on the catwalk and the woman commanded them, "Hurry, we don't have much time. She's probably already knows that you're out so everybody move!"

She began to direct the movement of the people when a dozen red lights appeared and began to shine on the crowd. Somebody screamed and the mass of test subjects broke into a panic and began to run.

As Wheatley watched, the woman raced to the front of the crowd, yelled something at them, then ran back to confront the turrets. At first he thought she was going to try to throw something at them or maybe even shoot at them but instead she sped to a cord that was hanging from a platform and began to climb up. Reaching the top, she swung the cord around the horde of turrets so that they were tangled in it. They responded by exploding.

The woman had gotten her leg over the railing of the catwalk and was about to hoist herself over when a stray bullet skidded across her arm. It only scraped her skin but it shocked her enough to loosen her grip on the cord and fall. Wheatley found himself screaming as she flew down, past the platform that held the defeated turrets, past the area that held the chambers.

He desperately slid down his rail, trying to keep up with the woman as her body dropped further and further down the seemingly endless pit. Finally, he heard a metallic crash from below him and sped down to the room where she had landed.

The woman looked dazed and terribly hurt as she lay among the broken metal pieces but when she looked up at Wheatley the dark eyes that had frightened him were now sad and soft and full of pain.

"No, no, no, no," Wheatley cried "I can't do this again! Not again! Once was enough! Don't die, stay alive! It's much better!"

She didn't respond and her eyes began to slowly close.

"NO! There's got to be something I can do!"

He began to frantically look around the cluttered room.

"This place must be ancient," he said glancing over at a pile of cores ready to be programmed "Come on now, come on. Wait! What is this?"

There in front of him was a large machine labeled "Neurological Remapping". Without really thinking about it, Wheatley allowed himself to be lowered into the plug-in of the machine and started it up.

"Alright, now let's see if you can grab that girl there and put her in the chamber. Good! Excellent! No, no, the point is to get her in the chamber without breaking her nose. Yes, yes. Oh really, did you honestly have to throw her in like that? Well, now what?"

The machine responded promptly, "Please choose core."

Wheatley groaned and replied, "Tell me, does it really matter? After all, she's going to be dead. Just choose a bloody core already! What do you mean do I want to start the process? Why would I put her in and a core and not want to start the process? Just do it?"

Wheatley heard a number of strange sounds coming from inside the chamber. He hoped it would be able to save her. He couldn't handle another death like Nola. Never again. Never…


	7. Moving On

"SING SONGS IN SPACE!"

"What? Oh, I'm sorry, Mate, I guess I wasn't paying attention," Wheatley replied after being snapped out of his revelry by Space Core all but screaming in his face.

"New space song! You sing in space too!" the core cried.

"That's fine. But this time I get to choose."

As Wheatley began to think of a song choice his thoughts also entangled with ones of that unnamed test subject, of Nola, and of the woman he tried to save. He never found out what had happened to her for GlaDOS had caught him and after discovering he did nothing to stop the escapees, she had shut him down. Thinking of it now, he wondered if the machine had worked and, if it had, if she was happy being a core.

He could never erase his past, no matter how many mistakes he made or sadness he felt. All he could do was keep going and hope he improved as he went along.

"You know what, Mate?" Wheatley said "I think I've got the perfect song."

_We were sailing along on Moonlight Bay_

_We could hear the voices ringing_

_They seemed to say_

"_You have stolen my heart"_

"_Now don't go away"_

_As we sang love's old sweet song on Moonlight Bay_

_On Moonlight Bay_


End file.
